


A 3x3 Whisky Lunch

by youareaprogram



Series: Mass Effect Prompts [1]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-07-20
Packaged: 2018-12-04 10:27:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11553273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youareaprogram/pseuds/youareaprogram
Summary: Alternate Universe where Ryder and Reyes didn't go off to Andromeda and instead were caught up in the Reaper War (but still ended up coming together). Ryder and Reyes run into Kaidan and Shepard taking a sanity check at Apollo's, drunken bonding ensues.





	A 3x3 Whisky Lunch

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so prompt from tumblr that I've no doubt mangled. Like I've just been rambling and I'm pretty sure you can pinpoint the exact moment where I gave up. But yeah expect mistakes and general shit cause I'm definitely not drunk ayyyy

Nathan wanted to leave.

 

Kaidan supposed that was being generous. Nate wasn’t really a _leave an awkward situation quickly and quietly_ kind of person. His reputation as Shepard wasn’t _entirely_ unfounded after all.

 

Granted, Kaidan felt a little uncomfortable too, though the bite of the single-malt in front of him had lessened that feeling, at least a little.

 

Kaidan had just wanted to get Nathan away from everything, a night out on the town, if only for a few hours. Put _Shepard_ to rest for a few hours and let the man behind the mask relax, away from the fuss and the flurry of the problems of the galaxy.

 

But they’d been spotted. Flynn had waltzed over, holding this other man’s hand and invited themselves to his and Shepard’s table within a matter of seconds. Nate’s eyes were wide and his lips snarled upwards, similar to how he acted whenever encountering a politician now that Kaidan thought about it.

 

Flynn was one of Kaidan’s students; the Alliance-based biotic programme he’d been instructing for a while, ever since his promotion to Major. Flynn was talented for sure; the kid had managed to lift more than 10 times his weight with his biotics alone and his barriers had saved even Kaidan’s hide on more than one occasion. But what the kid had in raw talent was tempered by his impulsive-nature and general cockiness. Kaidan knew it was a product of youth, the kid had only just turned 22 when he joined the squad and he’d likely outgrow this in time. That didn’t make it any easier to work with him when he’d intentionally rile up the other students.

 

Flynn and his squad were evacuated in time, from some backwater planet they stationed when the Reapers attacked. No casualties, thanks to the combined efforts of himself and EDI, but during their last meeting via QEC, Kaidan could tell the young man was shaken. He supposed that explained his newfound stilted bravado and more currently, his alcohol-laced breath.

 

Kaidan couldn’t tell who the other man was. Tall, short, cropped hair. Had a wry smile like he knew intimate secrets about everyone in the room but wouldn’t share anything. At least not without a price.

 

Flynn had waved over at Kaidan and he’d smiled weakly back. Flynn had run over, took a chair from a neighbouring table and sat down whilst his friend did the same. Nate’s eyes were dark and his brows narrowed.

 

They were all at Apollo’s, a little after sixteen-hundred, if Kaidan’s omni-tool was correct. Which it probably wasn’t. What with the wear and tear every battle brought, his omni-tool was on the fritz. He considered switching it out for the Nexus model, but Tali would never let him live it down.

 

“So, what’s everyone drinking?” Flynn asked the table, slurring, clearly already a little drunk. The small table was now crowded with the four men sitting around it, his voice shaking Kaidan out of his tech-related thoughts.

 

“Whisky. Neat.” The other man answered for him, looking down at the glass by Kaidan’s hands. “Mount Milgrom?”

 

“Yep. Triple distilled.” Kaidan answered the stranger Flynn had brought along.

 

“I’ll have what he’s having then,” the other man said, as he began to type their order into his omni-tool.

 

“Wait, Reyes, make that two. And your friend?” He gestured to Nathan sitting beside Kaidan. “Does he want a refill?” He looked down at Nathan’s depleting glass.

 

“Nothing. I’m good.” Nathan hissed out through clenched teeth, as he took another sip from his glass.

 

Their drinks arrived promptly, delivered by a well-dressed Turian.

 

“Shit I forgot,” Flynn said, “Kaidan, this is...”

 

“Reyes. Reyes Vidal.” The other man finished, his accented-lilt punctuated by him lifting his glass of dark-honey to his lips.

 

“Sorry. He’s been watching way too many spy vids than is healthy lately.” Flynn said, clasping his hand on Reyes’ shoulder. “And your friend?”

 

“This Flynn,” Reyes said, “is Commander Shepard. _The_ Commander Shepard, I should say. Saviour of the Citadel, Vanquisher of the Collectors etc.” Reyes waved his hands nonchalantly, summing up Nathan’s accomplishments with a hand wave.

 

This Reyes man with Flynn wasn’t Alliance, that much was clear to Kaidan. His clothes were a little shabby and his demeanour too casual. From the Terminus Systems, maybe?

 

“Holy shit,” Flynn whispered breathily to himself.

 

“I wouldn’t know about holy,” Reyes continued to drink. “But he is _the shit._ ”

 

“We really need to get you off from watching those spy and gangster vids,” Flynn remarked dryly.

 

“Oh, you can definitely get me _off_.” Reyes winked.

 

Flynn rolled his eyes, whilst his lips curled into a smile belying his annoyance.

“Well I guess I can cross off being flirted with in front of a galactic hero from my checklist.”

 

“Not to be rude Flynn,” Kaidan said, delicately, “but Shepard and I were kinda hoping for a _quiet_ night. You get me Flynn?”

 

“Guess the rumours are true then,” Reyes said.

 

Flynn narrowed his brows.

 

“They’re together Flynn.”

 

“Oh. Oh! Shit Kaidan I didn’t realise I…”

 

“It’s ok Flynn,” Kaidan reassure him.

 

“Is it Kaidan?” Nathan interjected. “We just came out for something to eat, not to babysit your shit-faced students.”

 

The table went quiet.

 

“Are we interrupting?” Flynn asked, looking to Kaidan.

 

“What would give you that idea?” Nate piped up, taking a break from nursing his steadily depleting glass.

 

“Shit I didn’t mean to interrupt your,” Flynn gestured between Shepard and Kaidan to sum up their relationship, “things. Come on Reyes, we should go.”

 

Flynn and Reyes stood up to leave. Kaidan likewise stood up, and began shaking his student’s hand.

 

“It was really good to see you Flynn. And you Reyes. Glad you’re well.”

 

“Yeah you too Kaidan. See you around.”

 

They turned to leave Apollo’s as Kaidan turned back to sit back at the table. His face was slightly worn, his eyes dark.

 

_He was let down._

_Shit._

Nathan sighed. He stood up and ran towards the couple.

 

“Shit. Wait.” Nathan shouted at the pair now on their way out of the café.

 

“Look. I was an asshole back there. But I think Kaidan would like to catch up with you so…” Nathan sighed again. “So, go sit back down and go chat. Or whatever.”

 

“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt.”

 

“No, I didn’t want you to either, but you already did. So, you might as well be useful and go tell him all about whatever shit you’ve been up to. I think it’ll cheer him up.”

 

“Who knew the _big bad_ Commander had a heart of gold,” Reyes said, a grin playing on his face.

 

“I can hurt you,” Nathan reminded Reyes, deadpan, as he looked directly at him. “You,” Nathan pointed at Reyes, “help me with drinks. And you,” he pointed at Flynn, “go tell the Major about whatever boring shit you’ve been getting up to since you went dark.

 

“He was worried,” Nathan added quietly, at least quietly enough so that Flynn didn’t hear it.

 

* * *

 

 

After twenty drinks later, and a slightly uncomfortable talk with Reyes and Flynn about how Nathan’s new-fangled, cyborg squishy-bits work, the four men had settled into drunken, but at least somewhat civilised, conversation.

 

 

“You know I’ve heard so much about you,” Flynn said, practically rocking in their sit from the sugar in his now finished ShadowBrokertini.

 

“That’s funny,” Nate said, drawing out his sentence as he drank the bourbon from his glass, “because I’ve heard pretty much nothing about you.”

 

“You have, you just never listen,” Kaidan joked.

 

“I listen,” Nate defended, his voice heavy and slurred from the whisky.

 

“Alright, let’s test that out” Kaidan said. “So, I’ve told you about Flynn before. He used to do something to the other students when I was in charge of his squad. What was it?”

 

Nate looked back and forth between Kaidan and Flynn for a few moments.

 

“Was it something dirty?”

 

“No!” Kaidan said in mock disgust, shoving Nate’s shoulder slightly as the younger man chuckled.

 

“That’s a shame,” Reyes said, his arm now snaking around Flynn’s neck.

 

“Well…There might’ve been something like that.”

 

Kaidan chuckled.

 

“I’m still your teacher Flynn. Kinda. I don’t want to hear about that stuff.”

 

“I do!” Reyes said.

 

“Fine. I give up. What was it?”

 

“Flynn used to use his biotics to simulate zero gravity on the station. Not only would he cause panic, making everyone think there was a fault in the artificial gravity systems but he’d seem to do it at,” Kaidan paused, thinking of how to phrase it, “let’s say inappropriate times. When someone is making food, when someone’s in the shower, when someone’s, ah, using the restroom.”

 

Flynn drunkenly snickered to himself.

 

“That’s…creative. And messy I’m guessing,” Reyes said.

 

“What’s the use of biotics if you can’t occasionally throw people around with your mind?” Flynn said simply.

 

“Are you a biotic too?” Kaidan asked Reyes.

 

“No. Though sometimes I wish I were. There are some…benefits to it,” Reyes remarked, grinning, fondling Flynn’s inner thigh beneath the table.

 

“Shit,” Flynn breathed, quickly force-coughing to avert suspicion.

 

“So, what about you Commander?” Reyes asked. “Have you got any tall deeds and exploits you’d like to share?”

 

“Well I do fight space-machine gods for a living,” Nathan said bluntly.

 

“Nate,” Kaidan said, his voice low.

 

“Fine. I don’t know. One time I accidentally destroyed a Biotiball stadium. Those teams were pretty mad,” Nathan added, chuckling to himself.

 

“What?” Flynn asked.

 

“In my defence, they were assholes.”

 

“That’s not a defence,” Kaidan said.

 

“And you aren’t?” Reyes said.

 

“Reyes,” Flynn interjected, “people who are glass assholes shouldn’t throw…something. I don’t know. I’m not very good at proverbs.” He took another swig from the newly replaced drink in front of him.

 

“I’m starving,” Kaidan said, “anyone feel like anything?”

 

Flynn pulled out his omni-tool, his eyes blurringly looking at the menu.

 

“Eh let’s just get everything.”

 

“It’s expensive here,” Reyes said.

 

“Oops.”

 

* * *

  

15 minutes later, their food arrived.

 

Some of it was inedible; mostly the dextro-foods but also the sushi that Flynn had drunkenly ordered: Kaidan’s tongue was swelling up just looking at the seafood.

 

“I remember learning in bio class,” Flynn said in between bites of his synthetic burger, “that Dextro and Levo proteins aren’t actually incompatible with us? Like I’m thinking the Turians and Quarians just have really nice food that they don’t want to share.”

 

“No you didn’t,” Reyes said. “You heard that from Miri.”

 

“That doesn’t make it any less true.”

 

“I’m going to tell your sister.”

 

“Fine go on, I’m not scared of her.”

 

“Keep telling yourself that,” Reyes laughed.

 

“She might be a scientist, renowned Prothean expert and overall typical Ryder know-it-all but I remember when she projectile vomited green slime; she can’t touch me.”

 

“Ryder? As in Alec Ryder?” Nathan asked.

 

“Yeah that one. The one with an unhealthy obsession with AI and keeping secrets. You know him?”

 

“I suppose. I met him drunk at an N7 party once.”

 

“They have those?”

 

“Either that or someone just happened to gather together all the N7s, gave out alcohol and put up a shit-tonne of decorations. Hell, of a coincidence if not.”

 

“You know, I think there’s a correlation between your alcohol levels and your meanness,” Flynn said.

 

“That’s not true,” Reyes said. “I think he’s mean all the time Flynn.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Kaidan wasn’t sure if it was the light-hearted jabs they all took at each other over the course of the night. Or the company of people he liked, admired and had fun with.

But moments like this reminded Kaidan of what they were fighting for.


End file.
